Eric's Beer Cheese Dip

 

Ingredients: 

2 bricks of cream cheese

1 pack ranch dressing

About 1/3 of a dark lager

About 2 cups finely shredded cheddar

Combine all items together in a mixing bowl. You can always add more beer or cheese but you can take it out!

Best serve with pretzel, Ritz or Townhouse FlipSides originals.

Cheesey Chicken Broccoli Rice

Ingredients:

2-3 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size pieces

season salt

garlic powder

onion powder

black pepper

2 cups chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

Knorr chicken & broccoli rice or chicken rice  (or store brand - mine was Aldi brand)

fresh or frozen broccoli (I used fresh)

cheddar cheese

Start with a small amount of olive oil in an oven safe skillet, add chicken pieces and seasonings.  Cook until chick is completely white when you cut a larger piece in half.  Midway thru go ahead and preheat your oven to 375.

Remove chicken from skillet.  Add chicken broth and soup.  Mix until combined. 

Add in rice packet, mix until combined.

Turn of the stove.  Add in broccoli pieces.

Add chicken back into skillet.

Top with cheese.  Measure with your heart!

Bake in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes.  I served ours with some freshly baked ciabatta rolls with butter.

 

Cherry Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

3-4 cups diced rhubarb, mine was fresh from my neighbor Eileen

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp. almond extract

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine the following: oats, brown sugar, flour and salt.  Stir well.

Add butter.  If I were a true baker I would have a pastry blender, but I didn't... I used a fork and my Pampered Chef Meat Chopper - it worked - eventually but if I made something like this more often I would pick up a pastry blender for sure!

Work the butter in until it is crumbly.  

Then, into a greased 9x13 pan pat 2 cups of the mixture in.  Be sure to press the mixture down into the pan as this is your crust.

Add rhubarb in an even layer.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch.  

Stir in the water. And continue to stir on a medium/high heat.

Cook until mixture is thick and clear.

Stir in extract and cherry pie filling.

Spoon the cherry mixture over the rhubarb.  

If you are adding the walnuts, at this point add the nuts to the remaining oat mixture. Then sprinkle the oat mixture over the cherry mixture.

Bake until filling is bubbly and topping is lightly browned, about 40-45 minutes.  If desired, serve with ice cream.

Right out of the oven this was a sloppy mess but I couldn't wait.  The next day it was setup a bit more, but still not a bar you could pick up and eat - this is for sure a plate/fork dessert.

Pad Thai

 

Ingredients:

12 oz Rice Noodles

4 chicken breast or the equivalent in chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces

1 can bean sprouts, drained

4 eggs

oil for wok, toasted sesame oil is preferred but any oil will work

2 c broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

2 c cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

1 basket of mushrooms, sliced

 * you could also add other veggies, chop into bite size pieces (carrots, snow peas, bok choy)

    Garnish:

    4 green onions, sliced

    1 c peanuts, chopped 

    1 bunch of cilantro, stems removed and chopped

    1 large lime, cut into wedges

    additional soy sauce, siracha and/or oyster sauce or fish sauce

    Sauce Ingredients:

    1/2 c soy sauce

    2 Tbsp sriracha, more if you want it spicier

    1/4 c fresh lime juice

    1/4 c oil

    1/4 c packed brown sugar, more if you put too much sriracha in (ha!)

You could make this a vegetarian dish, a seafood dish, a chicken dish, a beef dish, or any sort of combination.  I like to do veggies, chicken and shrimp.

Start by prepping all of my ingredients, washing, chopping/slicing, and mixing up the sauce. 

Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until brown sugar has dissolved. Keep the whisk handy as you will want to whisk again before adding it in, towards the very end of the recipe.

Prep lime wedges, cilantro and green onions, and peanuts.  Save these for garnishing your individual plate.

Add a small amount of oil to a wok.  Add mushrooms.  Stir fry the mushrooms for 2-3 minuets, then set aside in a bowl or plate.  

Add a bit more of oil and add in broccoli and cauliflower.  Stir fry until cauliflower get a little browned, about 3-5 minuets.  Then set aside with the mushrooms.

Prepare noodles as directed on package in a medium size pot. Once they have reached the desired tenderness, drain and rinse in cold water.

While noodles are cooking, add a small amount of oil to wok, adding chicken.  Stir fry the chicken, cut a piece in half to confirm the center is no longer pink.  Once there is no pink, add the chicken to the veggie mixture. 

Add a small amount of oil to the wok and scramble the eggs.

Once eggs are scrambled, add bean sprouts, chicken, veggies back into the wok and give a good toss to combine.  Add in noodles and sauce, tossing again to combine.  Once everything is added, let cook for about 5 minuets to heat everything together, tossing now and then to make sure things do not stick to the wok bottom.

Once everything has been heated, serve!

Don't forget to add your garnishes to your individual plate, adding more sauces if you want it more spicier or more salty!

Buffalo Wild Wing Parmesan Garlic Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:
1 Bottle Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic Sauce

1 Bottle Half & Half

1 Block of Cream Cheese

1 Bag of Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Box of Farfalle Pasta

3-4 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts or the equivalent in Chicken Tenders

Black Pepper, measure with your heart

Slap Ya Mama Seasoning, measure with your heart

Lining your crockpot with a plastic liner saves on clean up with this recipe and highly recommended.

Add Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic sauce to your crockpot.

Add a small amount of Half & Half to the same bottle and add cover back on.  Shake to get as much of the sauce out of the bottle, adding to the crockpot.  Then fill the bottle with Half & Half and add to the crockpot.

Give the sauce a stir.

Cut chicken breast or tenders into bite size pieces, and also chop up the brick of cream cheese into pieces.

Add Slap Ya Mama and Pepper to the chicken.  

Add the parmesan cheese to the crockpot along with the cream cheese and give it a stir.

Add the seasoned chicken to the crockpot and give it yet another stir, making sure that all of the chicken is coded with the sauce.

Cook on low for 5 hours, or 2 hours on high, stirring occasionally.  Make sure to get allllll the way to the bottom and around allllll the edges or you may end up with some scorched sauce.

At the 5-hour or 2-hour mark, take out a piece of chicken and test to make sure there is no pink center.  Once there is no pink in a cut piece of chicken, boil your water and make pasta as directed on the box.  

Once your pasta is done to your preferred tenderness, drain.  Add pasta to crockpot and stir. 

Once combined, turn crockpot off and serve.  I served ours with a side of steamed broccoli.

This dish has sooooo much flavor and was instantly put on the "must make again" list.  Next time I may also sauté some button mushrooms to add to your individual bowl and make some oven rolls.

Note: You can purchase the BBW sauce at any location, but I've also found it recently at my local Menards for way cheaper.  I've also heard that it can be found at Target, and for those of you in Wisconsin that they have it at Woodman's.  

Kielbasa, Beans and Tater Sheet Pan Dinner

 

Ingredients:

• Mini potatoes 
• French green beans
• Beef kielbasa 
• Onion
• Olive oil
• Steak seasoning

* Picture includes a zucchini, however I suggest not using zucchini when you make it as it is not a hearty enough vegetable.

Rinse and chop all vegetables and kielbasa into bite size pieces. Add to a sheet pan. 

Dizzle olive oil over the entire sheet pan. 

Generously shake Steak Seasoning over sheet pan. Then hand toss everything to coat all pieces with the oil and seasoning.

Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes or until potatoes are able to release a fork poke.